Cleric gets agreement for Najaf peace deal

ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDIAssociated Press Writer

Published Friday, August 27, 2004

NAJAF, Iraq -- Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, made a dramatic return to Najaf on Thursday and swiftly won agreement from a rebel cleric and the government to end three weeks of fighting between his militia and U.S.-Iraqi forces.

The renegade Muqtada al-Sadr accepted the proposal in a face-to-face meeting Thursday night with the 75-year-old al-Sistani. Hours afterward, Iraq's interim government also agreed to the deal.

Al-Sistani's highly publicized, 11th-hour peace mission would almost certainly boost his already high prestige in Iraq and cloak him in a statesman's mantle, showing that only he had the ability to force an accord between two sides that loathe each other.

The influential cleric returned to Iraq after heart treatment in London to intervene for the first time in the bloody conflict, drawing thousands of followers who marched on Najaf and massed on its outskirts.

In the 24 hours before al-Sistani entered the city, more than 90 Iraqis were killed in fighting -- including 27 killed when mortars barraged a mosque in neighboring Kufa, where thousands had gathered to march into Najaf in support of al-Sistani's mission.

Meanwhile, an Arab television station said Friday that it received a video showing the killing of kidnapped Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, whom militants had threatened to execute if Italy did not withdraw troops from Iraq. Al-Jazeera said the video was too graphic to broadcast but appeared to show Baldoni being slain.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, a staunch supporter of the U.S.-led war to topple Saddam Hussein's regime, condemned the reported slaying and repeated his statement of Tuesday that Italy's 3,000 soldiers would not abandon the U.S.-led coalition and Iraq's government.

Fighting eased in Najaf after al-Sistani arrived, and the U.S. military and the Iraqi government called a 24-hour ceasefire.

The acceptance by the young, firebrand preacher al-Sadr -- whose militia has been battling U.S. and Iraqi forces since Aug. 5 -- didn't necessarily mean an end to the crisis. He has agreed to peace proposals before, and they have quickly fallen apart.

But State Minister Qassim Dawoud, announcing the administration's acceptance, was optimistic. "Brothers, we have entered the door to peace," he said. He added that the government would not try to arrest al-Sadr, who is sought in the slaying of a rival cleric last year.

The five-point plan calls for Najaf and Kufa to be declared weapons-free cities, for all foreign forces to withdraw from Najaf, for police to be in charge of security, for the government to compensate those harmed by the fighting, and for a census to be taken to prepare for elections expected in the country by January.

There was no immediate word if the U.S. military would accept the provisions on the agreement calling on its forces to leave Najaf. In Washington, a senior Bush administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said only: "We've seen the developments. We're watching them very closely."

Dawoud said U.S. and coalition forces would pull out of Najaf as soon as interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi ordered them to.

Al-Sistani aide Hamed al-Khafaf announced al-Sadr's acceptance and suggested fighters from his Mahdi Army militia would leave the Imam Ali Shrine, the holy site they have used as a stronghold and refuge throughout the fighting.

"There will be a mechanism that will preserve the dignity of everyone in getting out of the holy shrine, and you'll see this in the coming hours," al-Khafaf told Al-Jazeera television.

The shrine, in Najaf's Old City, has been the center of fighting, but U.S. troops have tried to avoid damaging it, fearing it would anger Shiites.